Ben Ali

Washington DC lost a great one. But they'll always have those fantastic half smokes. My last time at Bens Chili Bowl was July 6 this year, just before Sonic Youth played the 9:30 Club. While Patrick and I chowed down on sloppy, not-nutritious goodness, our friend from Seattle downplayed her chili order and claimed Bens was overrated because "it's been around for a long time."

Three weeks later, when I spoke with Steve Shelley, he said that the band had hit up Bens that day as well, and even proceeded to give a brief explanation of the Bowl and its history to my Canadian buddies.

Ben Ali is gone. The Chili Bowl lives on.

News Feed Bag

"No Setlist" made the official Sonic Youth news page and is thusly also on sonicyouth.com. Being featured on Myspace, Facebook, and Saucer-Like...awesome. This? Awesomosity.

All You Need Is...

I love the Beatles. I've ordered the Mono box set, 'cause I wanna hear their albums (save Let It Be and Abbey Road) the way the band and Mr. Martin intended. Abbey Road is in my top 25 albums of all time, and the Beatles in my list of top 10 favorite bands.

Entertainment Weekly actually got it right. "All You Need Is Love" is not the worst Beatles song ever ("Rocky Raccoon") but it is terribly overrated and deserves a spot on the top 5 at least. If McCartney had written/sang this treacle, it would not be universally beloved as a masterfully constructed pop/baroque classic that poignantly demonstrates the outsized, imperfect heart and soul of its creator. No, the consensus would be, "More gutless Macca fluff."

And it is gutless fluff. I don't care what classical references the song opens with. I don't care how many people gathered for a live broadcast, nor do I care that there was a live broadcast. It's hippie garbage. "It's easy." No it's not. "All you need is love." Clearly that's false. You need love, first for yourself, then for others. Then you'll need a whoooooolllllllle bunch of other stuff. How about some answers? I mean other than "learn how to play the game." What fucking game? Beatleopoly? Is "Helter Skelter" the Boardwalk, 'cause it should be.

Words

"Schism" is not that rare of a word. Fucks sake, Anthrax titled a song "Schism" back in '88. Tool recorded a song called "Schism." Clearly it's not just the province of stuffy professorial types.

Also, if you can't tell Jared Allen is being sarcastic in this video, and you're an American, you prove my Euro friends right: we can't tell sarcasm for shit.

Reading this here article reminded me of when that douchewar Fred Durst caught flying screaming crap for using the word "agreeance," or the disbelief over Roger Clemens' claim that someone sometime "misremembered" something. People were aghast: those aren't words! Except they are. (I actually use "misremembered" in No Setlist, in a review that predates the Clemens steroid saga.)

That's why I love words. You can confuse people with them.

Beatles "Rock Band" Tracklist Unveiled--Almost

Per this here....44 of the 45 songs that will appear on the game that singlehandedly justifies the entire franchise.

I Saw Her Standing There
Boys
Do You Want To Know A Secret
Twist And Shout
I Wanna Be Your Man
I Want To Hold Your Hand
A Hard Day's Night
Can't Buy Me Love
I Feel Fine
Eight Days A Week
Ticket To Ride
Day Tripper
Drive My Car
I'm Looking Through You
If I Needed Someone
Paperback Writer
Taxman
Yellow Submarine
And Your Bird Can Sing
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
With A Little Help From My Friends
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
Good Morning Good Morning
I Am The Walrus
Hello Goodbye
Revolution
Back In The U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Birthday
Helter Skelter
Hey Bulldog
Don't Let Me Down
Come Together
Something
Octopus's Garden
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Here Comes The Sun
Dig A Pony
I Me Mine
I've Got A Feeling
Get Back
Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows

"Octopus's Garden"? Jesus.

Baby Penguins To Mama No No NO

Last night Patrick called me from his tech-free sanctuary in Fenwick Island, DE. Casual yak ensued, leading him to ask if I was anticipating the new Madden game for the Wii. Why yes of course, I responded, I would like that game very much.

Then, my dear friend was suddenly struck.

"Hey. You have wireless now, right?"

"Yeees."

"So you can download games off the Wii virtual console."

You magnificent bus stop.

My Wii now has stored within: Ice Climbers, Ninja Gaiden, Super Mario 3, Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario 64 (the latter two playable thanks to my Gamecube controller).

This is not good. Oh, don't misunderstand, it's actually great to that part of my brain that is perpetually in the mid-to-late-90s and craves nothing more or less than virtual challenges and accomplishments of varying bits scrolling up down and across my flat screen. Smashing ice, sticking to walls, warping via whistle, collecting bananas, saving that baby penguin and delivering him hence to Mama...part of me (a considerable part) is in heaven.

But then I have to pay heed to that other part, the more mature side of myself that Jenn circa 1995 would not even recognize as a personal goal capable of achieving. Holding up a stopwatch, reminding me that fun and games are well and good, but I have greater things on the horizon. I have words to write down on empty sheets of paper, thoughts to distill, situations to bring into the light, people to recussitate.

It's a challenge.

Yes Fuppets

Mighty blog Fuppets has blessed "No Setlist" with a wonderful review. It's the first in-depth review online of the book, and what more can I say, he gets it.